Truckers using Valleyfield as shortcut to Highway 30

CBC

The newly-built Highway 30 connecting the off-island towns of Vaudreuil, Valleyfield and Châteauguay may have been meant to help alleviate traffic through Montreal — but truck drivers seem to be using Valleyfield as a shortcut now.

By taking Valleyfield's Monseigneur-Langlois Boulevard, which connects highways 20 and 30, truckers not only shave a few minutes off their drive, but also avoid the new highway's Serge Marcil toll bridge and a weigh station.

As a result, there’s been an exceptional increase in traffic, said Valleyfield mayor Denis Lapointe.

“We knew at the beginning there would be an increase,” he said.

Transport Quebec said they would study the situation through until the end of 2013 before taking any action.

But Pierre Aubin, former head of the Quebec Trucking Association and the owner of two trucking companies, said it wouldn’t make sense for truckers to avoid Highway 30 merely for its toll and weigh station.

He said the majority of trucks coming from Ontario are already crossing at least two scales on the way to Montreal.

“So why would they avoid the Quebec scale when they’ve already crossed [ones in Toronto and Ottawa]?” he asked.

Still, Lapointe said Transport Quebec is looking at ways to funnel truck traffic onto the new road.

Drivers may not have a choice, though, when upcoming construction on the Monseigneur-Langlois Blvd. ultimately forces them onto Highway 30 anyway.